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This volume of the International Perspectives on Education and Society series examines the transformation of education policy in China, with a special emphasis on transformations in the post-1978 period. While educational policy has experienced major shifts and reversals since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the late 1970s and the early 1980s signalled a significant shift in China's openness and willingness to make widespread and rapid changes in education to meet the demands of an increasingly market-oriented economy. These educational policy changes are inextricably linked to China's increasing interest and participation in theglobal community abroad and the social-economic transformation and somewhat loosened political environment at home. With the special emphasis on policy change and its subsequent impact on different aspects of education at various levels of educational institutions, particularly in areas of educational financing and curriculum reform, this volume attempts to bridge the dichotomy between critics and advocates of Chinese educational transformations, recognize the importance and impact that educational policy in China has not only on one of the largest national populations in the world, but also on other (and often competing) country's systems and provide relevant scholarship to inform policy and practice.

The goal of the ARCIE volume is to examine current perspectives and future directions for the field using several essays as a context for discussion and analysis. Contributed Volume chapters begin by addressing the questions and themes discussed in these essays which will include: the use of new conceptual or methodological frameworks; the role of CIE in teacher education and higher education; the emergence of new area studies, and diversification of the field to include human rights, multicultural and social education, environmental education, education for sustainable development, arts education, and special education, among others. The format of ARCIE pieces entails an analytic overview of published work in the field, noting key issues and future directions. It provides an important and well-cited international forum for the discussion of matters of comparative and international education theory, policy and practice.

Various definitions of leadership have transformed the way that educators around the world think about teaching, administration, and policy over the years. This title investigates the changing face of educational leadership from comparative and international perspectives.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been an active international influence in the assessment, development, and reform of national educational systems worldwide. The introduction of the OECD’s flagship international educational assessment, confirmed by, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). But, there are many questions still unanswered about the OECD and its global impact on education. First, there is no definitive history of the OECD’s educational agendas, development, or initiatives. Second, there is no comprehensive investigation into the impact it has had on educational reform. Finally, the educational impact of OECD compared to organizations such as UNESCO has not been comprehensively addressed. This volume investigates the history, contexts, agendas, and initiatives associated with the OECD’s educational impact globally. The goal is to present information, case studies and empirical research about the development of the OECD’s educational agenda as a whole, and the specific impact that OECD-supported activities, initiatives, and policies have had in countries or educational systems around the world.

This volume of "International Perspectives on Education and Society" investigates the often controversial relationship between gender, equality and education from international and comparative perspectives. Much has been written recently about the global progress made toward gender parity in enrolment and curriculum in nations around the world. And there is much to tout in these areas. Although gender parity is not yet the global norm, the expectation of gender equality increasingly is. Some have gone so far as to say that the global expansion of modern mass schooling has created a world culture of gender equality in education. Yet, while there have been many positive advances regarding girls' and women's education around the world, there are still significant differences that are institutionalized in the policies and administrative structures of national education systems. For example, some of the strongest evidence of gendered inequality in schooling is the fact that in many developing countries there are large proportions of school-age children who are not in school - many if not most of whom are girls. The question this volume investigates is whether gender equality in education is really being achieved in schools around the world or not.

As the target year of achieving Education for All development goals approached in 2015, there were discussions about the post-EFA agenda, a process parallel to setting the post-Millennium Development Goals. This transition should not be understood simply as a normative framework. It has coincided with changes in structure, actors, modes of interactions, and practices. The emergence of new types of donors who used to be recipients of aid is changing the landscape of international educational development. Transnational networks of civil society actors gained power to set the discourse at multiple levels, through their global mission-driven and expertise-based advocacy. Advanced communication technologies and broader participation increased the amount of ideas exchanged, while the global governance structure becomes more centralized in its decision making.

This volume pursues two central objectives. On the one hand, it is necessary to sharpen our analytical tools in order to better appreciate the term governance in the educational field. To this end the five different paradigmatic approaches on governance as well as different topics and sectors shall be confronted/contrasted and related to each other. In the course of this process, the particularly critical educational issue of the relation between academic analyses of governance and the so called governmentality studies will be discussed. On the other hand, the so far marginally studied issue of change in the 'educational science order' will be addressed. The transformations mentioned affect the nucleus of the pedagogical understanding of education. The promise of a greater adequacy to the needs and interests of those addressed by education, because more flexible, more user-oriented, more precise control of effects presents a challenge to educational science and pedagogy. This marks the interface of 'governance' and 'performance' on a systems or organization level (Soguel/Jaccard, 2008; Simons, 2007) with the individual as the subject of education.

Following the development of a "Concept Note" for the World Bank Education Strategy 2020, the World Bank engaged in a series of activities to garner feedback about the new strategy. In early 2011, a revised strategy was published entitled, "Learning for All: Investing in People's Knowledge and Skills to Promote Development." The document ranges from explaining the role of education in development to the philosophy behind a new strategy and concludes with details about performance and impact indicators. To bring together the scholarly work and both evidence and expert opinion about the development practices of the Bank, this volume includes chapters/authors with a range of research interests, practical experience, and ideological backgrounds.

Since the IEA's first international studies on mathematics and science achievement in the late 1960s, the availability and use of international achievement studies around the world has exploded. The most widely adopted studies, PISA and TIMSS, are now administered regularly and include participating countries from every region around the world. These international studies, now include cross-national studies of multiple subject areas, teachers and teaching, and a developing focus on higher education. This information has been used to make decisions about resource distribution both within and across national educational systems, but some of the most productive uses of TIMSS and PISA data by policymakers have been to create agendas for innovation and equity in national educational systems. The chapters in this volume will: discuss the uses of international achievement study results as a tool for national progress as well as an obstacle, provide recommendations for ways that international achievement data can be used in real-world policymaking situations, and also discuss what the future of international achievement studies holds.

Higher education worldwide, including the university and other related academic programs, is currently undergoing intensive change and transformation perhaps as no other time in its long history. One factor contributing to this rapid transformation is the global expansion of higher education at unprecedented rates. More of the world's population is continuing to higher education (and other forms of tertiary education) now than ever before. In fact, enrollment in institutions of higher education around the world is growing at a rapid rate. Some scholars have suggested that one reason for this rapid expansion is that the role of higher education has shifted over the last 50 years from an elite to a mass institution. As a result of this rapid expansion and shift in focus, the nature of students, faculty, the curriculum, and assessment is changing within the institution. And in society, the value of higher education and its impact on socioeconomic status, human capital, and technical innovation is changing as well. As a whole, the chapters in this volume in the "International Perspectives on Education and Society" series present a thoughtful discussion of the worldwide transformation of higher education from multiple perspectives. Contributors include Gaele Goastellec, David Turner, John C. Weidman, Adiya Enkhjargal, Christine Min Wotipka, Francisco O. Ramirez, Karin Amos, Lucia Bruno, Marcelo Parreira do Amaral, Mark S. Johnson, Christopher Collins, Robert A. Rhoads, Sunwoong Kim, Jun Li, Jing Lin, Chuing Prudence Chou, Philip G. Altbach, and Patti McGill Peterson.

This volume of the "International Perspectives on Education and Society" series examines the relationship between HIV/AIDS and education worldwide. Much of the mystery surrounding HIV/AIDS and education lies in the fact that many factors contextualize their intersection. Many of the children who are at risk of not finishing school or have never had the chance to attend school live day-to-day in communities with high HIV/AIDS infection rates. To exacerbate the problem, in some countries the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates are in marginalized and extremely poor communities while in others it is within the most affluent communities. This volume examines how education supports, combats or reacts to HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and impact worldwide as well as its impact on education systems and teaching forces. Given the context and prevalence of HIV/AIDS worldwide, this volume presents information, policy case studies, and empirical research for use by educators, policymakers, and organizations about the relationship between HIV/AIDS and education, including how HIV/AIDS has impacted education systems and the potential impact education has on HIV/AIDS.

Following the development of a "Concept Note" for the World Bank Education Strategy 2020, the World Bank engaged in a series of activities to garner feedback about the new strategy. In early 2011, a revised strategy was published entitled, "Learning for All: Investing in People's Knowledge and Skills to Promote Development." The document ranges from explaining the role of education in development to the philosophy behind a new strategy and concludes with details about performance and impact indicators. To bring together the scholarly work and both evidence and expert opinion about the development practices of the Bank, this volume includes chapters/authors with a range of research interests, practical experience, and ideological backgrounds.

The internationally comparative perspective of the volume will frame educational innovation and social entrepreneurship using both the globalization and contextualization of educational quality and opportunity in disadvantaged communities worldwide as a foundation. Through the use of both empirical research reports and case study examples, this volume will examine the contributions of social entrepreneurs through educational programs, projects and systems worldwide, and how the social, cultural and political communities in each nation contextualize educational innovations. Chapters will examine evidence to assess the impact of social entrepreneurship in education and to make recommendations for innovative educational change. This volume will also highlight the importance of theory in both understanding and guiding innovative ideas in every stage of entrepreneurial development from research-to-practice.

The global education revolution of the 20th century resulted in massive developments in education worldwide, but the higher education sector throughout Africa remains surprisingly underdeveloped. Although impressive expansion and reform of higher education in Africa have occurred since 1990, the higher education sector across Africa has been particularly challenged to keep pace with the development of higher education worldwide. This is reflected in comparatively limited research output by African university scholars and researchers and the limited representation of African universities on world institutional rankings. Given both the perceived and real gap in research productivity and scholarly reputation between African higher education and higher education systems in other parts of the world, the question persists whether or not the African higher education sector can produce "world-class" universities.

This volume of the "International Perspectives on Education and Society" series comparatively examines various two-year and community college institutions worldwide. While these institutions are called by different names and may not all be structured the same around the world, their core mission remains consistently: to respond to the needs of their local community. Inspired by the German Volkshochschule, founded in 1844, this model is now throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, Thailand and other nations. While the community college "label" is debatable and possibly controversial in and of itself, these institutions all serve the needs of their local communities by bridging the gap between academic and technical training with open and accessible learning. Students served by these institutions come from various socioeconomic backgrounds including age, race, culture, gender, and income levels. Two-year and community colleges adapt and institutionalize differently to meet various community needs, whether they provide students with technical training, the ability to transfer to four-year higher education institutions, remedial education or lifelong learning opportunities. This volume analyzes the ways this model has served and continues to serve communities in different international contexts for similar purposes.

Since the IEA's first international studies on mathematics and science achievement in the late 1960s, the availability and use of international achievement studies around the world has exploded. The most widely adopted studies, PISA and TIMSS, are now administered regularly and include participating countries from every region and level of development around the world. These international studies, which initially focused on math and science achievement, now include cross-national studies of multiple subject areas, teachers and teaching, and a developing focus on higher education. This information has been used to make decisions about resource distribution both within and across national educational systems, but some of the most productive uses of TIMSS and PISA data by policymakers have been to create agendas for innovation and equity in national educational systems. The chapters in this volume will (1) discuss the uses of international achievement study results as a tool for national progress as well as an obstacle, (2) provide recommendations for ways that international achievement data can be used in real-world policymaking situations, and (3) discuss what the future of international achievement studies holds.

This volume of the "International Perspectives on Education and Society" series examines the transformation of education policy in China, with a special emphasis on transformations in the post-1978 period. While educational policy has experienced major shifts and reversals since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the late 1970s and the early 1980s signalled a significant shift in China's openness and willingness to make widespread and rapid changes in education to meet the demands of an increasingly market-oriented economy. These educational policy changes are inextricably linked to China's increasing interest and participation in the global community abroad and the social-economic transformation and somewhat loosened political environment at home. With the special emphasis on policy change and its subsequent impact on different aspects of education at various levels of educational institutions, particularly in areas of educational financing and curriculum reform, this volume attempts to bridge the dichotomy between critics and advocates of Chinese educational transformations, recognize the importance and impact that educational policy in China has not only on one of the largest national populations in the world, but also on other (and often competing) country's systems and provide relevant scholarship to inform policy and practice.

This inaugural volume is a forum for stakeholders and scholars to examine current trends and identify future directions in comparative and international education, using several essays as a context for discussion and analysis. It provides an analytic overview of published work in the field, with discussions of education theory, policy and practice.

Teacher effectiveness and teacher quality have become the focus of intense international attention and concern. Around the world, governments are modifying existing certification requirements or implementing value-added modeling in order to qualify teachers without planning for the long-term consequences of these actions. The book brings together scholars from multi-disciplinary and international backgrounds to address two critical areas: (1) what existing cross-national measures of teacher effectiveness and teacher quality are most promising, and how can these be aligned to maximize their research potential; and (2) what core constructs of teacher quality or effectiveness are missing, and how can cross-national research help identify these. Identifying both what is used and what is missing in the international and comparative analysis and reform of teacher quality is key to informing evidence-based educational policy formation around teacher quality.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been an active international influence in the assessment, development, and reform of national educational systems worldwide. The introduction of the OECD’s flagship international educational assessment, confirmed by, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). But, there are many questions still unanswered about the OECD and its global impact on education. First, there is no definitive history of the OECD’s educational agendas, development, or initiatives. Second, there is no comprehensive investigation into the impact it has had on educational reform. Finally, the educational impact of OECD compared to organizations such as UNESCO has not been comprehensively addressed. This volume investigates the history, contexts, agendas, and initiatives associated with the OECD’s educational impact globally. The goal is to present information, case studies and empirical research about the development of the OECD’s educational agenda as a whole, and the specific impact that OECD-supported activities, initiatives, and policies have had in countries or educational systems around the world.

Higher education worldwide, including the university and other related academic programs, is currently undergoing intensive change and transformation perhaps as no other time in its long history. One factor contributing to this rapid transformation is the global expansion of higher education at unprecedented rates. More of the world's population is continuing to higher education (and other forms of tertiary education) now than ever before. In fact, enrollment in institutions of higher education around the world is growing at a rapid rate. Some scholars have suggested that one reason for this rapid expansion is that the role of higher education has shifted over the last 50 years from an elite to a mass institution.As a result of this rapid expansion and shift in focus, the nature of students, faculty, the curriculum, and assessment is changing within the institution. And in society, the value of higher education and its impact on socioeconomic status, human capital, and technical innovation is changing as well. As a whole, the chapters in this volume in the International Perspectives on Education and Society series present a thoughtful discussion of the worldwide transformation of higher education from multiple perspectives. Contributors include Gaele Goastellec, David Turner, John C. Weidman, Adiya Enkhjargal, Christine Min Wotipka, Francisco O. Ramirez, Karin Amos, Lucia Bruno, Marcelo Parreira do Amaral, Mark S. Johnson, Christopher Collins, Robert A. Rhoads, Sunwoong Kim, Jun Li, Jing Lin, Chuing Prudence Chou, Philip G. Altbach, and Patti McGill Peterson.

This volume of "International Perspectives on Education and Society" investigates the changing face of educational leadership from comparative and international perspectives. Various definitions of leadership have transformed the way that educators around the world think about teaching, administration, and policy in recent years. Yet, there is relatively little known about how educational leadership works in many specific systems, cultures and societies around the world. And, much of the published research and literature on educational leadership focuses on only a handful of countries and cultures even though empirical research suggests that leadership is differently contextualized by society, culture, and organizational environment. The chapters in this volume ask and answer two main questions: What is the difference between theoretical definitions of leadership and what works in different systems, cultures, and societies around the world? And, more importantly, how are both ideas about and evidence of educational leadership either the same or different across different national and cultural contexts?

The worldwide shift towards a knowledge society and information based economy requires educational policy makers to re-evaluate their understanding of the knowledge and skills students need in order to achieve national development goals. This shift has influenced curriculum development, teacher preparation, and the role of formal schooling in creating lifelong learners and an educational culture, which reflects both national development interests and global norms. The Arabian Gulf countries, which largely comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries, include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Most of these Gulf countries have embarked on bold national experiments to pilot technology and teaching in their schools as a way to transition to knowledge societies. Their national interests and expectations have increasingly focused on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and both the regional and global context in which Gulf societies, economies, and political systems operate.

The 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union is a time to reflect and call attention to the educational transformations in post-socialist nations of Southeast/Central Europe and the former Soviet Union and in educational systems around the world. While the educational landscape changed most obviously in the former socialist countries and aligned nations, the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union was felt in nations worldwide. This volume will provide a comparative account of the meanings and processes of post-socialist transformations in education by exploring recent theories, concepts, and debates on post-socialism and globalization in national, regional, and international contexts. Of particular interest is a critical examination of post-socialist transformations and the evolution of educational change globally since 1991. Understanding these complex developments since 1991 is critical to the study of education around the world in the new millennium.

The goal of the ARCIE volume is to examine current perspectives and future directions for the field using several essays as a context for discussion and analysis. The format of ARCIE pieces entails an analytic overview of published work in the field, noting key issues and future directions. It provides an important and well-cited international forum for the discussion of matters of comparative and international education theory, policy and practice.

Beginner's Guide to Ancient Earth Mysteries: Is humanity the first creation of intelligent beings? Do similar human-type species exist throughout the cosmos? If so, have those species mastered technologies only to self-destruct in an unfortunate series of events? The Universe is unbelievably enormous, this is undisputed. It's extremely selfish to think we are the only existing intelligent life. Science and religion are on the verge of discovering the truth. Super ancient societies and their archaeological evidence uncovered to this day is a vault of stored information waiting to be unlocked. All we need to do is find the key. Help us uncover the truth by learning about Ancient Earth Mysteries.

The fourth edition of the Study Guide for Practical Statistics for Educators serves as a user-friendly and accessible way for students to better understand, review, and apply the concepts introduced in its companion textbook, Practical Statistics for Educators (Ravid, 2011). Since the first edition of this study guide came out in 1994, thousands of students in educational statistics courses and their professors have found it to be an excellent guide with clear and easy-to-follow instructions and examples. The study guide allows students to reinforce and test their knowledge of the concepts addressed in each chapter of the textbook. At the end of each chapter, the best answer for each exercise is given, along with an explanation for why the correct answer is better than the other choices. New in this edition are accompanying Excel exercises, so students may perform data analysis with this commonly-used software, using data available on the web-based portal that accompanies the guide.

In this volume, Matthew L. Jockers introduces readers to large-scale literary computing and the revolutionary potential of macroanalysis--a new approach to the study of the literary record designed for probing the digital-textual world as it exists today, in digital form and in large quantities. Using computational analysis to retrieve key words, phrases, and linguistic patterns across thousands of texts in digital libraries, researchers can draw conclusions based on quantifiable evidence regarding how literary trends are employed over time, across periods, within regions, or within demographic groups, as well as how cultural, historical, and societal linkages may bind individual authors, texts, and genres into an aggregate literary culture. Moving beyond the limitations of literary interpretation based on the "close-reading" of individual works, Jockers describes how this new method of studying large collections of digital material can help us to better understand and contextualize the individual works within those collections.

“Drop the flashcards—grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call.”—People

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators, who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people’s lives. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

“Illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it’s a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall.”—New York Times

“I learned so much reading this book and I came away full of hope about how we can make life better for all kinds of kids.”—Slate

An ideal tool for students writing research papers across the disciplines, the POCKET GUIDE TO APA STYLE, 4th Edition, offers straightforward explanations, annotated examples, and margin notes designed to help students write properly documented papers in the latest APA style. Thorough and practical, this concise guide is not only less expensive and easier for undergraduates to use than the APA Manual, it also includes additional information about the research-writing process. In this updated edition, students will also find extensive coverage of electronic sources, preparing them to both evaluate and correctly use Internet references in their own research. The 4th Edition incorporates all essential changes reflected in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2009).Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

From the moment they step into the classroom, boys begin to struggle. They get expelled from preschool nearly five times more often than girls; in elementary school, they’re diagnosed with learning disorders four times as often. By eighth grade huge numbers are reading below basic level. And by high school, they’re heavily outnumbered in AP classes and, save for the realm of athletics, show indifference to most extra­curricular activities. Perhaps most alarmingly, boys now account for less than 43 percent of those enrolled in college, and the gap widens every semester!

The imbalance in higher education isn’t just a “boy problem,” though. Boys’ decreasing college attendance is bad news for girls, too, because ad­missions officers seeking balanced student bodies pass over girls in favor of boys. The growing gender imbalance in education portends massive shifts for the next generation: how much they make and whom they marry.

Interviewing hundreds of parents, kids, teachers, and experts, award-winning journalist Peg Tyre drills below the eye-catching statistics to examine how the educational system is failing our sons. She explores the convergence of culprits, from the emphasis on high-stress academics in preschool and kindergarten, when most boys just can’t tolerate sitting still, to the outright banning of recess, from the demands of No Child Left Behind, with its rigid emphasis on test-taking, to the boy-unfriendly modern curriculum with its focus on writing about “feelings” and its purging of “high-action” reading material, from the rise of video gaming and schools’ unease with technology to the lack of male teachers as role models.

But this passionate, clearheaded book isn’t an exercise in finger-pointing. Tyre, the mother of two sons, offers notes from the front lines—the testimony of teachers and other school officials who are trying new techniques to motivate boys to learn again, one classroom at a time. The Trouble with Boys gives parents, educators, and anyone concerned about the state of education a manifesto for change—one we must undertake right away lest school be-come, for millions of boys, unalterably a “girl thing.”

The process of literature search and composing a formal literature review can be intimidating. But masters and doctoral candidates in Education and related fields have found academic argumentation to be seamlessly intuitive with the six-step process pioneered by this book. This updated third edition features a wealth of all-new content including: A flowchart that graphically illustrates Machi and McEvoy’s process. Reflective Oversight boxes in each chapter, prompting readers to direct metacognitive activities. Links to online guides and resources. Expanded examples illustrating theoretical concepts.

It’s an uphill climb—but the view from the top makes it all worthwhile.

A dissertation can be challenging, but this informative book helps you overcome the obstacles along the way. Using graphics, checklists, and sample forms, this guide readies you for each step of the process, including selecting the committee, getting acclimated to academic writing, preparing for your oral defense, and publishing your research. New features include:

A chapter on ethical considerations Expanded coverage of digital data collection and the Internet More detailed information on conducting the literature review A discussion of how to develop a theoretical or conceptual framework

A step-by-step guide to conducting a research project or thesis in Education

Designed to be used during the research process, Conducting Educational Research walks readers through each step of a research project or thesis, including developing a research question, performing a literature search, developing a research plan, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and sharing the conclusions with others. Throughout the book, Daniel J. Boudah covers all types of research (including experimental, descriptive, qualitative, group designs, and single subject designs) and helps readers link research questions to designs, designs to data sources, and data sources to appropriate analyses.

Key Features

Technology in Research boxes help readers take advantage of related technologies and online resources In Their Own Words sections provide tips and suggestions from students who have completed projects End-of-chapter Your Research Project in Action sections prompt students to apply what they have learned to their current research projectsIn-text learning aids, including chapter-opening outlines and objectives and chapter-ending summaries and discussion questions, help readers master the material

In her award-winning book, Linda Darling-Hammond-renowned researcher, policy advisor, and educational leader-contends that improving America's performance in the global economy is closely tied to closing the minority-majority achievement gap at home. Today in the United States only 1 in 10 low-income kindergarteners goes on to graduate from college. At a time when education matters more than ever, the U.S. high school graduation rate has dropped from first in the world to the bottom half of rankings for comparable nations. While such sobering facts inform her new book, the author focuses on the successes of effective school systems in the U.S. and abroad in order to develop a clear and coherent set of policies that can be used to create high-quality and equitable schools. Drawing on her broad experience, Darling-Hammond examines the roots of our modern education system and shows how the skills required for our 21st-century global economy cannot be learned in traditional education systems, which have been in place since the early 1900s. She identifies an "opportunity gap" that has evolved as new kinds of learning have become necessary - a gap where low-income students, students of color, and English language learners often do not have the same access as others to qualified teachers, high-quality curriculum, and well-resourced classrooms. After setting the stage on current conditions in the United States, Darling-Hammond offers a coherent approach for effective reform that focuses on creating successful systems, inducting and supporting quality teachers, designing effective schools, establishing strong professional practice, and providing equitable and sufficient resources. The Flat World and Education lays out what the United States needs to do in order to build a system of high-achieving and equitable schools that ensures every child the right to learn.

Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, a chief education advisor to President Obama, Co-Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, and Founding Director of the School Redesign Network at Stanford.

A step-by-step guide to qualitative research in the field of education.

J. Amos Hatch offers a methods book that speaks directly to novice qualitative researchers in the field of education, providing a step-by-step guide to the development of a research project. Written in accessible language, the book emphasizes learning how to do qualitative work. Specific examples from real studies, using real data, and demonstrating real analyses are provided throughout. The book is designed to guide doctoral candidates through the dissertation process, from unpacking assumptions and identifying research questions, through project design, data collection, and analysis, to writing the final draft. Recommendations for writing and publishing qualitative work are included.

Briefer, more affordable, and easier to use than the MLA's own handbook, this popular booklet features current MLA guidelines, a new section on evaluating online sources, and an up-to-date APA appendix. The guide also provides numerous examples, a sample research paper, and helpful hints on such topics as avoiding plagiarism and taking notes.Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

While courses in Bible and theology typically require research papers, particularly at the graduate level, very few include training in research. Professors have two options: use valuable class time to teach students as much as they can, or lower their standards with the understanding that students cannot be expected to complete tasks for which they have never been prepared. From Topic to Thesis: A Guide to Theological Research offers a third option. This affordable and accessible tool walks students through the process, focusing on five steps: finding direction, gathering sources, understanding issues, entering discussion and establishing a position. Its goal is to take students directly from a research assignment to a research argument—in other words, from topic to thesis.

In The Politics of Inquiry, Benjamin Baez and Deron Boyles critique recent trends in education research to argue against the “culture of science.” Using the National Research Council’s 2002 report Scientific Research in Education as a point of departure, they contend that the entire discourse on education science reflects a number of distinct but mutually constitutive political forces or movements that use science and education to shape what we can think, and, thus, what we can become. These forces include the attempts to restrict democracy via scientism; the uses of academic classifications for organizing the world into social groups; the imperatives of the informational society, which seek precision in order to convert the world into “data” for easy governing; and the effects of transnational capitalist exchanges, which convert everything into a cost-benefit analysis, and which make us all complicit in ways we do not fully grasp. Baez and Boyles examine these forces and offer an alternative to the current pushes to make educational inquiry scientific.

How do other countries create “smarter” kids? What is it like to be a child in the world’s new education superpowers? The Smartest Kids in the World “gets well beneath the glossy surfaces of these foreign cultures and manages to make our own culture look newly strange....The question is whether the startling perspective provided by this masterly book can also generate the will to make changes” (The New York Times Book Review).

In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they’ve never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy. Inspired to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embed­ded in these countries for one year. Kim, fifteen, raises $10,000 so she can move from Oklahoma to Finland; Eric, eighteen, trades his high-achieving Minnesota suburb for a booming city in South Korea; and Tom, seventeen, leaves a historic Pennsylvania village for Poland.

Through these young informants, Ripley meets battle-scarred reformers, sleep-deprived zombie students, and a teacher who earns $4 million a year. Their stories, along with groundbreaking research into learning in other cultures, reveal a pattern of startling transformation: none of these countries had many “smart” kids a few decades ago. Things had changed. Teaching had become more rigorous; parents had focused on things that mattered; and children had bought into the promise of education.

Stephen Mansfield, the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author, has highlighted the growing popularity of Mormonism—a belief system with cultic roots—and the implications of its critical rise. Mormons are moving into the spotlight in pop culture, politics, sports, and entertainment via presidential candidates like Romney and Huntsman, media personality Glenn Beck, mega-bestselling Twilight author Stephanie Meyer, and The Book of Mormon, the hottest show on Broadway. Mormonism was once a renegade cult at war with the U.S. Army in the 1800s, but it has now emerged as not only the fastest-growing religion, but as a high-impact mainstream cultural influence.

How do you get a fourth-grader excited about history? How do you even begin to persuade high school students that mathematical functions are relevant to their everyday lives? In this volume, practical questions that confront every classroom teacher are addressed using the latest exciting research on cognition, teaching, and learning.

How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom builds on the discoveries detailed in the bestselling How People Learn. Now, these findings are presented in a way that teachers can use immediately, to revitalize their work in the classroom for even greater effectiveness.

Organized for utility, the book explores how the principles of learning can be applied in teaching history, science, and math topics at three levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Leading educators explain in detail how they developed successful curricula and teaching approaches, presenting strategies that serve as models for curriculum development and classroom instruction. Their recounting of personal teaching experiences lends strength and warmth to this volume.

The book explores the importance of balancing studentsâ€™ knowledge of historical fact against their understanding of concepts, such as change and cause, and their skills in assessing historical accounts. It discusses how to build straightforward science experiments into true understanding of scientific principles. And it shows how to overcome the difficulties in teaching math to generate real insight and reasoning in math students. It also features illustrated suggestions for classroom activities.

How Students Learn offers a highly useful blend of principle and practice. It will be important not only to teachers, administrators, curriculum designers, and teacher educators, but also to parents and the larger community concerned about childrenâ€™s education.

'Mike Lambert's book is a useful source of information, helping to create and shape your research methods project. The book contains detailed chapters with easy to follow guidelines, tips and suggestions ensuring help at every step of the way from start to finish' Alexander Miesen, student, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

In this basic guide, step-by-step advice is presented in a clear way and chapters take the reader through the entire process, from planning and doing research, to writing it up. Each stage is covered, with detailed help on choosing a topic, drawing up research questions, doing the literature review, choosing and designing research methods, the ethics of doing research, analyzing data, and collating and presenting findings.

Features in the text include:

- explanations of key research terms

- activities (with answers)

- progress sheets

- case studies

Online resources to accompany the book are available at http://www.methodspace.com/groups/MikeLambertABeginnersGuide/

This is an ideal text for undergraduate students undertaking their first ever research project, postgraduates pursuing Masters awards and teachers carrying out action research.

Even in the 18th century, scholars realized it was not possible to know everything worth knowing; sometimes, we have to look it up. Fortunately for Dr. Johnson, he did not have to be familiar with so many sources and so many different techniques for finding information. He did, however, recognize the value of knowing where to find information. What today's Internet-enabled workers have discovered is that we also need to know how to search and how to evaluate what we find. Real World Research Skills, Second Edition, compiles basic advice, techniques, reference information, and resources to help working professionals find accurate information quickly. It is written particularly for those whose work involves tapping into federal government information. The book began as a set of materials for TheCapitol.Net's seminar, "Research Tools and Techniques: Refining Your Online and Offline Searches." It is designed to be used as a complement to that seminar or independently as a desk reference. The first and second chapters cover practical principles of research and online searching, including the general search engines. These sections include checklists and advice that are applicable to many different research tasks and many different databases and search engines. The third, fourth, and fifth chapters present resources for federal legislative, judicial, and executive branch research. The sixth chapter covers starting points for state and international research on the web. The final chapter, "Experts and Insiders," has tips for tapping into that vital Washington information resource: people. In our knowledge economy, more and more people-with a wide range of education and experience-are moving into jobs that require some information-gathering skills. The research training provided at many schools lays a foundation, but often does not prepare us for the varied demands of the working world. This book can help anyone involved in government research by increasing their information literacy, improving their research effectiveness and efficiency. Each chapter has a chapter summary and review questions, making it easy to use in the classroom. Summary Table of Contents - Introduction - Chapter 1 Before You Start Your Research - Chapter 2 Going Beyond Google - Chapter 3 Legislative Branch Research - Chapter 4 Judicial Branch Research - Chapter 5 Executive Branch Research - Chapter 6 State and International Research - Chapter 7 Experts and Insiders - Table of Web Sites - Index For a complete Table of Contents, see RealWorldResearchSkills.com

Educational Research: A Guide to the Process is a different kind of research text. It emphasizes the process of research, that is, what researchers actually do as they go about designing and carrying out their research activities. Rather than passively reading about research operations, it promotes content mastery by using a three-step pedagogical model that involves: a manageable chunk of text, a comprehension or application exercise, and author feedback on the exercise. The text contains approximately 150 of these exercise-feedback units.

The second edition has been thoroughly updated, expanded from 15 to 20 chapters, and reorganized into two parts. Part I covers basic aspects of the research process, provides an example of a student research proposal, and shows how to evaluate a research report. Part II provides a separate chapter for each research methodology, including two chapters on qualitative research. Other noteworthy changes include more annotated studies and more visual illustrations of statistical and research methods.

At a time when scientific and technological competence is vital to the nation's future, the weak performance of U.S. students in science reflects the uneven quality of current science education. Although young children come to school with innate curiosity and intuitive ideas about the world around them, science classes rarely tap this potential. Many experts have called for a new approach to science education, based on recent and ongoing research on teaching and learning. In this approach, simulations and games could play a significant role by addressing many goals and mechanisms for learning science: the motivation to learn science, conceptual understanding, science process skills, understanding of the nature of science, scientific discourse and argumentation, and identification with science and science learning.

To explore this potential, Learning Science: Computer Games, Simulations, and Education, reviews the available research on learning science through interaction with digital simulations and games. It considers the potential of digital games and simulations to contribute to learning science in schools, in informal out-of-school settings, and everyday life. The book also identifies the areas in which more research and research-based development is needed to fully capitalize on this potential.

Learning Science will guide academic researchers; developers, publishers, and entrepreneurs from the digital simulation and gaming community; and education practitioners and policy makers toward the formation of research and development partnerships that will facilitate rich intellectual collaboration. Industry, government agencies and foundations will play a significant role through start-up and ongoing support to ensure that digital games and simulations will not only excite and entertain, but also motivate and educate.

Conducting Educational Research, Sixth Edition thoroughly addresses the major components of research design and methodology. The text is especially useful for inexperienced student-researchers and doctoral students in the early stages of preparing a dissertation. The early chapters of the text clearly describe the process of selecting a problem, reviewing the literature, constructing a hypothesis, identifying and labeling variables, and constructing operational definitions. The later chapters assist students in refining methodological procedures, analyzing data, and writing the final research report. The clarity of the text and the numerous practical examples help to reinforce important concepts and key ideas, increasing the efficacy of the text for even the most inexperienced student-researchers. Additionally, sample studies are included as models of acceptable published research and serve as a guide against which students may evaluate their own work.

Changes in New EditionMore illustrations, tables, figures, and bulleted lists to enhance understandingMore and simpler explanations of complex process A greater balance between the various approaches to research, ranging from experimental to qualitative, with causal-comparative, survey, and evaluation in-betweenPart I Expanded to include additional ethical considerations when conducting research. Part II: Renamed "Carrying out Fundamental Steps of Research"Additional details regarding measurement and observation Expanded discussion of the application of design criteriaPart III: Renamed "Carrying out Quantitative Research"Additional chapters on experimental research, correlational and causal-comparative research, survey research, and evaluation research.

The Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education offers both basic and advanced discussions of data collection, analysis and representation of all the best qualitative methods used in educational research.

Although educators are increasingly interested in art education research, there are few anthologies tackling the subject. Research in Art and Design Education answers this call, summarizing important issues in the field such as non-text based approaches and interdisciplinary work. Contributions from internationally renowned researchers explore a broad range of topics in art education, highlighting particular problems and strengths in the literature. An indispensable and engaging resource, this volume provides a long-awaited aid for students and teachers alike. “Research in Art & Design Education confirms Picasso’s claim that artists do not seek, but find; thus capturing the real meaning of art’s doing and how in doing art, we learn. From their respective positions, this book’s contributors converge in making a strong case for art and design research as a horizon of specificities; as a wide and ever-expanding ground of autonomous plurality; and as a discipline that is neither restricted to the empire of fact and measure, nor to generalist platitudes. Under Richard Hickman’s careful editorship, this book boldly makes the case that research in art and design education is not a subject-in-waiting and less so an affair restricted to arcane practices. Rather, it is a discipline invested in the exciting prospects of art’s humanity and the design by which humans work together for a better world.”—John Baldacchino, Columbia University

Directed Energy Weapons is nothing new to mankind, historically the origination of such weapons falls in centuries ago when first time the famous Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer Archimedes of Syracuse used different mirrors to collect sunbeams and focusing them on Romans fleet in order to destroy enemy ships with fire. This is known as the Archimedes Heat Ray. Archimedes may have used mirrors acting collectively as a parabolic reflector to burn ships attacking Syracuse. The device was used to focus sunlight onto approaching ships, causing them to catch fire. Of course the myth or reality of Archimedes Heat Ray still is a questionable story, but certain experiments with the help of a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology was carried out with 127 one-foot (30 cm) square mirror tiles in October of 2005 that was focused on a mock-up wooden ship at a range of around 100 feet (30 m). The flames broke out on a patch of the ship, but only after the sky had been cloudless and the ship had remained stationary for around ten minutes. It was concluded the device was a feasible weapon under these conditions.

More than an estimated 90 million adults in the United States lack the literacy skills needed for fully productive and secure lives. The effects of this shortfall are many: Adults with low literacy have lower rates of participation in the labor force and lower earnings when they do have jobs, for example. They are less able to understand and use health information. And they are less likely to read to their children, which may slow their children's own literacy development.

At the request of the U.S. Department of Education, the National Research Council convened a committee of experts from many disciplines to synthesize research on literacy and learning in order to improve instruction for those served in adult education in the U.S. The committee's report, Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Options for Practice and Research, recommends a program of research and innovation to gain a better understanding of adult literacy learners, improve instruction, and create the supports adults need for learning and achievement.

Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Developing Reading and Writing, which is based on the report, presents an overview of what is known about how literacy develops the component skills of reading and writing, and the practices that are effective for developing them. It also describes principles of reading and writing instruction that can guide those who design and administer programs or courses to improve adult literacy skills. Although this is not intended as a "how to" manual for instructors, teachers may also find the information presented here to be helpful as they plan and deliver instruction.

In this definitive collection of today’s most influential learning theorists, sixteen world-renowned experts present their understanding of what learning is and how human learning takes place.

Professor Knud Illeris has collected chapters that explain both the complex frameworks in which learning takes place and the specific facets of learning, such as the acquisition of learning content, personal development, and the cultural and social nature of learning processes. Each international expert provides either a seminal text or an entirely new précis of the conceptual framework they have developed over a lifetime of study.

Elucidating the key concepts of learning, Contemporary Theories of Learning provides both the perfect desk reference and an ideal introduction for students. It will prove an authoritative guide for researchers and academics involved in the study of learning, and an invaluable resource for all those dealing with learning in daily life and work. It provides a detailed synthesis of current learning theories... all in the words of the theorists themselves.

College Student Self-Efficacy Research Studies offers three uniquely designed sections that provide a unique mixture of research studies conducted on African American, Mexican American, and first-generation college students. This book explores a variety of factors affecting a diverse group of college students including institutional commitment, college adjustment, and social and academic self-efficacy barriers.

Briefer, more affordable, and easier to use than the MLA's own handbook, this popular booklet features current MLA guidelines, a new section on evaluating online sources, and an up-to-date APA appendix. The guide also provides numerous examples, a sample research paper, and helpful hints on such topics as avoiding plagiarism and taking notes.Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

It has become increasingly evident while working with in-service and pre-service teachers that educators are seeking meaningful solutions to teaching and learning. Engaging Students: Using the Unit in Comprehensive Lesson Planning provides the solution. Beirne and Velsor have constructed a new method to design, implement, and manage teaching and learning that blends the tenets of Constructivism, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and Multiple Intelligence Theory—including their updates and revisions. The Unit introduces a systematic method of teaching and learning that assists educators at all levels in the implementation of this comprehensive approach to learning in a natural way. Providing direct instruction to educators in regard to the thorough planning of a unit and lessons with a special focus on objectives and assessments, Engaging Students is comprehensive and incorporates historical perspectives with cutting edge ideals.

This Handbook is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source available for college reading and study strategy practitioners and administrators. In response to changing demographics, politics, policy, issues, and concerns in the field of college reading and study strategies since publication of the first edition in 2000, this new edition has been substantially revised and fully updated to reflect the newest research in the field, including six new chapters and a more user-friendly structure to make it easier for researchers, program administrators, college instructors, and graduate students to find the information that they need.

In this thorough and systematic examination of theory, research, and practice, college reading teachers will find information to make better instructional decisions, administrators will find justification for programmatic implementations, and professors will find in one book both theory and practice to better prepare graduate students to understand the parameters and issues of this field. The Handbook is an essential resource for professionals, researchers, and students as they continue to study, research, learn, and share more about college reading and study strategy issues and instruction.

This book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date look at problem solving research and practice over the last fifteen years. The first chapter describes differences in types of problems, individual differences among problem-solvers, as well as the domain and context within which a problem is being solved. Part one describes six kinds of problems and the methods required to solve them. Part two goes beyond traditional discussions of case design and introduces six different purposes or functions of cases, the building blocks of problem-solving learning environments. It also describes methods for constructing cases to support problem solving. Part three introduces a number of cognitive skills required for studying cases and solving problems. Finally, Part four describes several methods for assessing problem solving. Key features includes: Teaching Focus – The book is not merely a review of research. It also provides specific research-based advice on how to design problem-solving learning environments. Illustrative Cases – A rich array of cases illustrates how to build problem-solving learning environments. Part two introduces six different functions of cases and also describes the parameters of a case. Chapter Integration – Key theories and concepts are addressed across chapters and links to other chapters are made explicit. The idea is to show how different kinds of problems, cases, skills, and assessments are integrated. Author expertise – A prolific researcher and writer, the author has been researching and publishing books and articles on learning to solve problems for the past fifteen years.

This book is appropriate for advanced courses in instructional design and technology, science education, applied cognitive psychology, thinking and reasoning, and educational psychology. Instructional designers, especially those involved in designing problem-based learning, as well as curriculum designers who seek new ways of structuring curriculum will find it an invaluable reference tool.

Video Research in the Learning Sciences is a comprehensive exploration of key theoretical, methodological, and technological advances concerning uses of digital video-as-data in the learning sciences as a way of knowing about learning, teaching, and educational processes. The aim of the contributors, a community of scholars using video in their own work, is to help usher in video scholarship and supportive technologies, and to mentor video scholars, so that video research will meet its maximum potential to contribute to the growing knowledge base about teaching and learning.

This volume contributes deeply to both to the science of learning through in-depth video studies of human interaction in learning environments—whether classrooms or other contexts—and to the uses of video for creating descriptive, explanatory, or expository accounts of learning and teaching. It is designed around four themes—each with a cornerstone chapter that introduces and synthesizes the cluster of chapters related to it:

Theoretical frameworks for video research; Video research on peer, family, and informal learning; Video research on classroom and teacher learning; and Video collaboratories and technological futures.

Video Research in the Learning Sciences is intended for researchers, university faculty, teacher educators, and graduate students in education, and for anyone interested in how knowledge is expanded using video-based technologies for inquiries about learning and teaching.

Since its first publication, Action Research: Principles and Practice has become a key text in its field. This new updated edition clearly describes and explains the practices of action research and its underlying values, and introduces important new ideas, including:

all professionals should be reflective practitioners;

they should produce their personal theories of practice to show how they are holding themselves accountable for their educational influences in learning;

the stories they produce become a new people’s history of action research, with potential for influencing new futures.

This new edition has expanded in scope, to contribute to diverse fields including professional development across the sectors and the disciplines. It considers the current field, including its problems as well as its considerable hopes and prospects for new thinking and practices. Now fully updated, this book contains:

A wealth of case-study material

New chapters on the educational significance of action research

An overview of methodological and ethical discussion

The book is a valuable addition to the literature on research methods in education and nursing and healthcare, and professional education, and contributes to contemporary debates about the generation and dissemination of knowledge and its potential influence for wider social and environmental contexts.

Practitioners across the professions who are planning action research in their own work settings will find this book a helpful introduction to the subject while those studying on higher degree courses will find it an indispensable resource.

Educational research often discounts the uniqueness and ubiquity of software and the hidden political, economic and epistemological ways it impacts teaching and learning in K-12 settings. Drawing on theories and methodologies from English education, critical discourse analysis, multimodal semiotics and digital humanities, this volume exposes the problems of technology in schools and refocuses the conversation on software. This shifting of focus invites more nuanced questions concerning the role of software in school reform and classroom instruction, and takes a critical stance on software’s role in education.

This volume explores the ontology of software and the ways it is construed within educational policy discussions. It is beneficial to schools, companies, policy makers and practitioners seeking a more theoretical framework for technology in education.